Feel The Beet!

Confess it, don’t you love getting free samples? Well, I most certainly do, especially when they are the latest and greatest in the health food industry. Last weekend, the Canadian Health Food Association Trade Show took place in Vancouver. I sampled all sorts of delights from chaga mushroom tea, brown rice kale chips to a salted caramel, cashew milk frozen dessert. Besides trying great food, there were talks given by doctors and health experts.

One of the speakers was Kathy Smart who is a registered nutritionist, holistic chef, named Canada’s health activist, and she was even a guest on Dr. Oz. Kathy had clients who wanted to slim down, so she tested a theory on them which she claims worked time and time again. Her theory is that a plant-based protein works better for apple-shaped women and meat based protein is best for pear-shaped women. Whether you’re wanting to trim down or not, here is a tip about how much protein to eat. Take your weight in pounds and divide it in half, then this is the number in grams that you should be eating a day. So let’s say you weigh 140 lbs., then you should be eating 70 grams of protein per day.

Kathy Smart also talked about her list of top healthy foods. Can you guess which vegetable she thinks should be crowned vegetable of 2015? BEETS! This superfood is a powerhouse of nutrients with some not readily found in other vegetables/fruits. As an example, beets have a high concentration of betalains (antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxifying). They also contain vitamin C, magnesium, iron, folate, manganese, nitrate and potassium. This purple vegetable offers a huge range health benefits including: warding off cancer, supporting the digestive tract, boosting the immune system and energy, lowering blood pressure, helping arthritic pain, preventing cardiovascular disease, stroke and dementia. In China when women are menstruating they eat a lot of beets to replenish their iron levels. Don’t throw out the beet greens (tops of the beets), as they have a good dose of lutein, an antioxidant that supports eye health. I cook them like I would spinach or swiss chard. So, if you didn’t believe in the benefits of beets before, then it’s time to embrace and feel the beet!

Kale and I love beets but she preferred golden beets as she disliked handling red beets, that is – until she found a recipe that was too good to pass up. Her latest favourite salad, inspired and adapted from a Food & Wine Magazine recipe, is a salad with kale, little gem lettuce, goat feta, roasted beets and onions.

Superfoods in Kale’s Beet Salad:Beet – Benefits as described above.Cumin – Contains Cuminaldehyde, which stimulates the salivary glands helping with digestion (starts in the mouth). Thymol is a compound present in cumin that causes the glands to secrete acids, bile and enzymes that aid in digestion of food in the stomach and intestines. Thymol is also antimicrobial, antifungal and antibacterial.Kale – Contains a high amount of vitamin E, moderate amount of A, B, and C. Kale is part of the Brassica Oleracea family, which is known to have a protective effects against cancer because they contain Indole-3-carbinol (IC3 – promotes a healthy balance of good estrogen) and also has an anti-tumour effect. Kale helps to support the liver.Lemon – Contains vitamin C, folic acid and a range of phytochemicals (under the antioxidant family).Onion – High amount of quercetin (which is an anti-histamine, helps your body combat allergies). Onions are also antibacterial, antiseptic, have detox properties, helps to lower cholesterol, and protects the heart.

Roasted Beets & Onions with Kale, Little Gem and Goat Feta serves 6

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp cumin seeds

1 tsp sea salt

4 medium red beets

2 medium red onions

6 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon

200 g goat feta cheese (cubed)

1 bunch of purple kale

1 little gem lettuce

1 small bunch of fresh mint

Directions

Toast the cumin seeds in a small pan on the stove over low heat until slightly darker (about 2 minutes) and shake the pan regularly.

Grind toasted cumin and sea salt, with a mortar and pestle, to a coarse texture (not powder).

Peel red beets and cut into wedges. Cut red onions into wedges, making sure the ends don’t separate. Place beets and onion wedges into a large bowl.

Toss the cumin/salt with the beets, onions, and 3 Tbsp of olive oil in the bowl.

Place the combined ingredients onto a baking sheet and roast at 375C for about 45 minutes to 1 hour (checking at the 30 min mark) until beets are tender.

In a small bowl or jar, mix the juice from a lemon with the remaining 3 Tbsp of olive oil for the dressing.